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Invader Zim (TV series)
Invader ZIM Invader Zim, branded as Invader ZIM, is an American animated television series that was produced by and subsequently aired on Nickelodeon. The series is centered around an egotistical, clueless Irken invader named Zim who is constantly (and futilely) attempting to conquer and/or destroy Earth depicted to the audience as an alternate reality. Zim's schemes are usually foiled by his enemy Dib, an elementary school-aged paranormal investigator who takes the Earth's protection into his own hands and is among the few who sees through Zim's disguise. The show has no clear distinction of a protagonist or antagonist, and instead emphasized one's ability to empathize with Zim and Dib's lack of competence and vindication respectively. First broadcast on March 30, 2001, Nickelodeon had initially desired a block of 'edgy' programming for their older demographic when Invader Zim was greenlighted. However for whatever reason Invader Zim was the only show that could fit such a block leaving the series hard to place in an appropriate time slot suitable for their typical demographic. It was intended for audiences in their early teens, but was instead viewed more by older audiences, usually college age audiences. Consequently, the ratings were not high enough for the expenses put into the show. When it was obvious that Nickelodeon would drop the show, the crew requested that Invader Zim be moved to MTV as Ren and Stimpy ''had been, but this did not occur even after the show entered syndication. needed. Before the second season was completed, Nickelodeon cancelled the series, leaving at least sixteen episodes and a planned television movie series finale unfinished. Like most other Nickelodeon cartoons, it is 2D. The animation style was updated and improved in Season 2. At times, the animation is semi-3D. This is most often seen in the episode Battle of the Planets. Because of its continued fan base and above average DVD sales since series production ended, various observers have labeled ''Invader Zim a cult hit. The show completed its run in European and South American territories normally, and can currently be seen in syndication on Nicktoons Network, which started airing the completed season two episodes in Summer 2006. In Canada, YTV began airing the series on its Bionix programming block on September 8, 2006. MTV 2 aired a select few Invader Zim episodes in June 2006 during a week of Nicktoons episodes for their Sic'emation block. An Invader Zim DVD collection packed with bonus content was released by Media Blasters in North America in 2004. The series has also been translated into several different languages (including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish) for foreign broadcast in more recent times. Reruns returned to the Nicktoons Network on September 8, 2008. In March of 2010, Invader Zim returned to Nicktoons Network for one month. This as well as a new flash game on Nicktoons' website and an inquiry about interest in more Zim from the sites' forum admin brought forth speculation from fans that Nickelodeon was testing the waters for more Invader Zim. And, as of June 17, 2010, Nickelodeon has officially announced Invader Zim will rerun on Nicktoons Network. The show started airing again for the fourth time on Monday, June 21, 2010 at 4:30 EST. The first week continued at this time, then stopped. It started up again July 5th at 10:00pm Mon.-Thur. and ended the last Thursday in July. Currently, they are showing Invader Zim on weekdays at 1:30am EST; Friday nights from 4:00am - 6:00am, and Sundays from 4:00pm- 6:00pm. Series creator Jhonen Vasquez confirms in his blog that he "would have loved" to return to the show and that Nickelodeon indeed was testing the waters for more Zim but then deemed a revival "too expensive". On March 2011, the first convention entirely dedicated to Invader Zim, titled Invadercon, is held in Atlanta, GA to celebrate the series ten year anniversary. It featured special guests cast members Richard Horvitz, Rikki Simons, Melissa Fahn, Andy Berman, and writer Eric Truehart. Originally slated to appear was color director Jean-Paul Bondy and fansite Room With A Moose's admin team. Also noteworthy was the Operation Head Pigeons admin's panel that was rescheduled to a prime time scheduling towards the final week of preparation. On September 1, 2011, Nicktoons aired an 24 hour marathon as part of "Nicktoons: 24 hour marathon-athon." During which, Nickelodeon's official Twitter account acknowledges the fan driven revival campaign Operation: Head Pigeons. On December 10, 2011, Nicktoons was set to air the Pilot on television for the first time as a part of an afternoon holiday block, but then subsquently rescheduled it to Christmas Eve 2011 as its own event during prime time hours followed by the result of their online "Girreatest Zim Moments" poll. Nickelodeon released a DVD by the name of Operation Doom on February 22, 2011. It is unconfirmed by any public released statements, but it is highly likely this bare-bones 'greatest hits' DVD was released in response to the greeting card mailing campaign orchestrated by Operation: Head Pigeons on December 2010. Due to popular demand, Green Mustard Entertainment announces a 2nd Invadercon despite stating the one in Atlanta would be the only Invadercon they would organize. Previous guests return (with Andy Berman in limited capacity) but also joined by Jhonen Vasquez as a rare convention appearence. An invitation was also extended to Olivia d'Abo, the voice of the widely popular yet small-role character Tak. Fan production groups Operation Head Pigeons and Soapy Waffles have expressed intent to have an official presence at the convention. Plot Invader Zim revolves around the life of its title character, Zim, and the humans who are aware of him. Zim is a member of the imperialistic Irken race, an extraterrestrial species whose social hierarchy is based on height. The Irken leaders, known as the Almighty Tallest, are named Purple and Red, and serve together because they are exactly the same height. As recounted during the series premiere, "The Nightmare Begins", Zim, who is both very short and very naïve, was banished to the planet Foodcourtia for overzealously attacking his own planet and allies during Operation Impending Doom I. Upon hearing of Operation Impending Doom II, he arrives at the Great Assigning. Here elite Irken soldiers are chosen to become Invaders; "special" soldiers whose mission it is to blend in with the indigenous life forms of their assigned planet, collect intelligence, and prepare the planet for conquest by the Irken Armada. Zim pleads with the Tallest to assign him a planet, and in a desperate act to get Zim as far away as possible, they assign him to a presumed planet on the outskirts of their known universe that has never been explored. This "Mystery Planet" is Earth, and Zim's erratic attempts at world domination and/or the eradication of the human race begin. Intro Sequence Every episode starts out with a short introduction sequence that quickly explains the plot, followed by Zim daydreaming about taking over the planet. It starts with Zim standing in front of a large crowd of Irkens with a big screen with the word "Invasion" on it. The Almighty Tallest then throw Zim into his Voot Cruiser with GIR in it and send them to Earth. They then show Dib, Gaz, and GIR quickly followed by Zim covering the entire Earth in pipes/wires, then revealing that it's only a daydream. Facts of Doom Trivia *In the intro sequence, Zim sticks his tongue out while looking at The Almighty Tallest, but it looks like a human tongue instead of his own. *When the intro sequence shows Dib, a bunch of file folders fly around labeled things like "Vampires", "Ghosts", etc. But one of them has a picture of a turd with a ring around it and is labeled "Space Dooky". Also another one is labeled "...Dooky", but you never see the first word or the picture due to the fact that is covered by another folder. Animation Goofs *In some episodes, GIR appears to have slightly green eyes. *Sometimes in the series, GIR's back is a Blue circle, grey circle, and rarely just grey without a circle. Category:Jhonen Vasquez's Work Category:Episode Credits Category:Episode Ideas